MANILA, Philippines – Matteo Guidicelli defended singer KZ Tandingan from bashers during the October 21 press conference for his first solo concert, “MG1.”

This, following KZ’s interview with Boy Abunda on his show Tonight With Boy Abunda, where she was asked if Matteo courted her in the past.

“No, but we used to be very close friends,” KZ told Boy when he asked her about any previous courtship with Matteo, adding that they used to talk everyday.

Boy brought up that KZ did not notice when her current boyfriend, TJ Monterde, was trying to court her, she didn’t notice. He asked if the situation could be the same as with Matteo.

KZ told Boy that this couldn’t have been the case, because Matteo himself told her that he wasn’t courting her. “Kasi ininterview ako ng The Buzz dahil doon, tapos sinabi ko sa kanya (Matteo) na ‘Tinanong ng The Buzz kung nililigawan mo daw ba ako.’ Tapos sabi niya ‘Ano sinagot mo?’ tapos jinoke ko siya, sabi ko, ‘Oo.’ Tapos sabi niya ‘Ha? Di ah!’ So edi hindi!” KZ recounted, laughing.

(Because The Buzz interiewed me before about it, and I told Matteo, ‘The Buzz asked me if you were courting me.’ He said, ‘What did you answer?’ then I joked, I said, ‘Yes.’ And then he said, ‘Ha? No!’ So no, he wasn’t!)

Matteo is currently dating singer Sarah Geronimo.

During the press conference, Matteo responded to KZ’s bashers who support Matteo and Sarah’s relationship.

“Naawa ako kay KZ dahil maraming mga bashers, maraming mga feeling may alam sila diba? Pero wala talaga eh. (I sympathize with KZ because there are so many bashers, there are many people who feel that they know things right? But they don’t.) KZ and I are very good friends, she has one of the best hearts in the world,” said Matteo. 

“Alam po nating lahat kapag Bisaya… parang automatic close na kayong lahat so i guess namisunderstand yun ng mga tao, pero ‘yun (So I guess people misunderstood that, so there), KZ and I are very good friends, and Morisette too,” said Matteo, referring to Morisette Amon from Season 1 of The Voice of the Philippines, who will be a guest at Matteo’s concert, along with Martin Nievera. 

Matteo hails from Cebu, while KZ is from Davao.

“And I always like to make the Cebuano clan bond diba kasi kumbaga represent the mga Bisaya at yung mga Cebuano, so yun (to represent the Visayans and Cebuanos, in a way),” he explained.

When asked how long ago he was friends with KZ, Matteo answered, “Dati, matagal na.” (Before, it was a long time ago already.)

He speculated that people only started talking about their friendship because of KZ’s interview with Boy. “I guess kasi nagpause siya doon sa interview niya, alam mo yun, yung mga tao, ‘di nila maintindihan, especially you know, people watching TV, that kapag nasa harap ka ng camera nakakakaba diba, ‘pag may camera, si Tito Boy nasa harap mo, nakakakaba talaga, so you know we shouldnt give fault,” said Matteo.

(I guess because she paused during her interview, you know, people, they don’t understand, especially you know, people watching TV, that when you’re in front of the camera, you get nervous right, when there’s a camera, Tito Boy is in front of you, you really get nervous, so you know, we shouldn’t give fault.)

Matteo’s “MG1” concert will be on November 28 at the Music Museum. – Rappler.com